Tikisoo

I just watched 1950's TUNES OF GLORY starring powerhouses Alec Guinness & John Mills. It's a story of a post war Scottish regiment presently commanded by Guinness' charactor, a flamboyant good ole boy type soon to be replaced with a "book learned" Colonel played by John Mills. The reason for the replacement is not revealed, but everyone seems resigned to this fact as matter of course. The Mills charactor arrives a day early and is not amused to find the regiment drinking & dancing in celebration- an early illustration of the two Colonel's contrasting personalities. There is nothing more that I can say without revealing the plot. It's quite a simple story, the complexity is really in the wonderful performances. I had a tough time fully understanding the dialogue, often spoken in a Scottish brogue, but mostly got the gist of what was said. Colonel "Mills" is described as a "wee" Colonel, "wee" being a common, constant put-down, although I did notice John Mills diminutive stature compared to others. The sets were palatial and wholly believable, providing gorgeous back ground for the incredible photography by Arthur Ibbetson. The costuming was also just beautiful, who doesn't love men in skirts? I very much enjoyed the "pipe" music and especially seeing the men joyously dancing with each other. It is very apparent dancing "reels" is the basis of American Square dancing (glad this historical dance was taught in grade school curriculum) And that folk dancing aspect becomes a focal point in the conflict. This movie is charactor driven, not a war picture. The production & performances are top notch. I made this a drinking game, every time they said or drank Scotch, took a sip of my beloved Lagavulin.

Ah, I remember those days. I hung out with the pilots on my way to Australia & saw whales in the ocean! All Quantas attendants were men back then too.

DOA was one of the first classic films I saw as a teen. Love it, holds up well. NIAGARA just aired recently, I caught it on TCM & couldn't turn it off. It's a great film to show someone who only knows MM as an "icon". Great contrast with her fluff role in CLASH BY NIGHT. Never liked POSTMAN RINGS TWICE, any one who can be duped that easily deserves whatever they get. I'd love to spend a day revisiting those great movies. Thanks for the heads up.

Honestly I think they're referring to the sound of a phone ringing and ringing without anyone (or machine) answering it. Has anyone noticed this scenario when watching a movie with an unanswered phone ringing..... silently counting the rings waiting to listen if the caller is going to leave a message? 🙋‍♀️ I just recently watched Stiller & Meara on the Ed Sullivan Show doing a hilarious skit of two people making a blind date. Both of them just installed NEW answering machines & were checking on their messages. It was in B&W I believe, so early 60's? They were in costume, Stiller was a painter in whites. (Please someone find & post it) I remember the joy of FINALLY using interoffice phones that put people on hold, conference called & had a "double ring" code for in-house calls at my job as window dresser in the early to late 80's. I thought I was SO COOL....I loved working in that big Main St department store, it was a different era for sure, for many reasons. They had their own employee cafeteria!

Haha, the fire truck drove by yesterday on the week's check of empty house status and I saw "DIAL 911" on the side of the truck in big gold letters. Just an aside, I have a book on my shelf from 1994 (when I was an editor/reviewer) called GOING GOING GONE-Vanishing Americana. Each entry has a few pages if text/photos. A few not already discussed here: Balsa wood airplanes Carbon Paper Enclosed Telephone Booths Fur Coats Gas Station Attendants Mending Men's Clubs Nuns Paper Boys Paper Dolls Penmanship Sanitary Napkin Belts (thank god) Smell of burning leaves Stockings Suntans Telegrams The unanswered phone We are familiar with many of the items in the book just from watching old movies. Actually, B&W Movies is represented in the book! I use carbon paper to transfer designs and it's very hard finding it in art supply stores. With the big change in our society, I wonder if "mending" will come back? I wear hand-me-downs & am often amazed the reason my benefactors tossed an item is a MISSING BUTTON!

I wouldn't say anyone is "cheerful" but some stay, some go (Big Sam, Miss PittyPat) Everyone's "place" is gone with the wind as the previous Southern way of life. And since we're talking about "people", everyone reacts differently: Scarlett's sisters cry, Melanie takes things intellectually, Mammy tries to keep control of the household but looks to Scarlett for funding. Change is hard for people and it was an abrupt change for the South for all people.

Last night I watched my TCM recording of WOMAN ON THE RUN '50. Love Ann Sheridan and this has a bonus of the last scenes taking place in an Amusement Park. It's a pretty solid noir/suspense movie of a man who has witnessed a murder & goes into hiding. Sheridan plays his wife and along with the police & newspaperman, all are looking for the missing husband. There are several clues along the way, some subtle/some blatant. I liked how Sheridan plays her role coldly & defensively at first and we get more of her story as the movie goes along. It's a distraction and keeps us guessing as to what's going on. At the sand sculpture location, I realized this wasn't my first time seeing this. I had forgotten how bad the rear projection roller coaster ride was-laughable! But this was a pretty enjoyable movie and it seemed like it held a lot in it's 77 minute running time. On a personal level, I really enjoyed the "store mannequin" scene. (wow-amusement park AND window dresser shop!) As someone who has been a "window dresser" in an earlier career, I always like seeing the shops in a historical context. In the 40's-50's mannequins were made by covering burlap forms with plaster facial sculptures which quickly deteriorate with use. It showed the husband "repairing" the facial masks to resemble Ann Sheridan's face. Ann Sheridan sure had huge eyes!

You think so? What resources did women have in 1865 to provide for herself & dependents? Any stashed away Confederate money was worthless, there was nothing valuable to sell except Tara and Scarlett wasn't going to leave anyone homeless. All she had was herself to sell and marriage was the lesser evil than prostitution, which she had no experience. She did have experience in flattering men - only now it was necessity rather than fueled by emotion. Well, I guess the emotion that made her decision was fear of hunger & homelessness. This is why GWTW is a period piece of manners. It illustrates what life was like and how far (or not far) we've come.

Well, all except the hair.... I find Al a very handsome guy. After 3-4 months of no haircuts, my Mr Tiki went from looking like Keiser to looking like Yankovic

She finally gets back to her original position by marrying a rich old dude who kindly exits so she can inherit the business and build it up, likely through questionable business dealings. Nothing to applaud in a person of either gender. Exactly. While a man would strong-arm or buy his way up the top, Scarlett uses the only power she has, giving away herself in marriage. It's wrong by antebellum moral standards, but Scarlett declares "I'm going to beat them at their own game" stopping at nothing to provide for herself and her loved ones-including her now technically free slaves. Does anyone ever talk about the idea several of Tara's slaves stay living there after they're freed? Mitchell's intention was to show everyone's confusion over the fall of the previous society and Scarlett taking responsibility for them as her family. Scarlett, her sisters, Melanie all worked the fields for all to eat.

See? I did not know interracial marriage was ever illegal in the US*. Thankfully, I never saw segregation and just the thought of it baffles & outrages me. That is why classic film can be a history lesson. Just like books, movies can make the stories alive with charactors that viewers can experience through. For that reason alone movies that may be politically "incorrect" really should not be banned. * United States....we're anything but united.

My Mother gave me her (1st printing) copy as a gift. She read it as a teen non stop over 3 days. I read it almost as fast, it's a really well written story. Any GWTW thread is better that any obviously baiting one. How about comparing GWTW to the classic film that centers around racism, GUESS WHOS COMING TO DINNER? '67. People watching that today WONDER what the fuss is all about, interracial marriage is finally no longer an issue to most Americans. I've heard lots of talk about the problems with IMITATION OF LIFE too. Racism is depicted right along with sexism. That story (I also have my Mom's original book!) worked like a history lesson when I first watched the movie. It illustrated with charactors how oppressed life was for some women and especially those of color. Movies can provide a historical illustration of our past culture. I like a "warning" before a movie that there will be sex/violence/language so I'm prepared for it. "Disclaimers" are for the corporation's protection, not the viewer's.

The first half of the movie Scarlet's a typical teen - self centered. She's so wrapped up in herself she doesn't realize other people exist outside of her own needs. In the second half she realizes no one is going to take care of her any more. She steps up and not only takes care of herself, but everyone else around her-the O'Haras, the Wilkes & the slaves. And when the one person who would take care of her leaves, she stops crying, realizing she'll be OK without him. If that coming-of-age maturation came from a man, the comment would be "He's grown up! Strong!" But because she's a woman, the comments are always, "what a witch!" proving misogyny still exists in our society. I especially like Ashley's line, "we never treated our darkies that way". And I agree with Cid that this is no different today with exploitative companies. How many of you turn a blind eye to Amazon's business practices because it's so cheap & convenient?

March 15, 2020 when we were told to sequester at home, my first thought was "we're living in a apocalyptic Stephen King horror story" so figured I might as well reacquaint myself with one and borrowed a huge hardcover version of Stephen King's THE STAND. The day after finishing it, I started the 1994 TV miniseries which is 6 hours long. I wasn't disappointed. The mini series is absolutely faithful to the overlong rambling book, only a much better, more succinct story. You lose some of the character's backstories, most notably the musician Larry Underwood's pre-apocalyptic life & the charactors loses some of their color unless you've read the book. In turn, showing the vast empty scenery definitely enhanced the idea of isolation. The movie was preferable to the book for me to keep the charactors from blending into each other. When first viewing the mini series in '94, I was disappointed by the casting. This time around found the casting just perfect. It was very well acted and well edited making an engaging story. For those of you who don't know the story...a flu virus has been unleashed that kills people quickly -a worldwide plague that leaves very few immune survivors. The US survivors have strange dreams that instruct them to gather either in Boulder Co for those following God or Las Vegas for those following the Devil. A simple road trip story except there are no utilities and there are dead bodies everywhere, quickly decomposing & mummifying. Survivors must salvage food & supplies from abandoned stores & homes. The two cities gather large followings and 4 leaders are sent from the God side for a stand-off with the Devil. I loved classic actor Ray Walston's work as the "old guy" survivor and never recognised great actress Ruby Dee as God's spiritual leader. Every time I saw Ossie Davis as the Judge... all I could see was SNL's Alexis Silver commercial: The special effects of (devil) Randall Flagg were great- actor Jamey Sheridan's face would morph into a goat's devil head and a gory black eyed face when angry. The dead body props were a bit much, I don't think many people would die in a restaurant or movie theater-they'd die after being sick in bed wouldn't they? I spotted a lot of cameos-Kathy Bates, Ed Harris, Karen Abdul Jabbar, John Landis, Sam Raimi and of course goofy Stephen King himself. The movie was fun, watching it in parts like a mini series. Since libraries are closed, the only version I could find was uploaded by a YT Christian Channel.

Agreed. I'm always amazed at what people "settle" for- cel phones are great when there's an emergency, but the sound quality does not compare to a landline, even cordless receivers. Same inferior sound quality today for listening to music. I keep my old "Gotham" phone plugged in just in case the cordless ones fail. It's funny when someone calls here you hear all the phones chirp while the one old one has a raspy buzz. Anyone remember department store pager bells? It wasn't until I was window dresser in a big department store that I realized what that "bink-bong-bink-bong" sound was. Of course mine was the longest: 5/6 meaning five bells followed by six bells. To this day when I hear bells trilling, I count them.

My Mom once told me she caught "the funniest movie ever" but had no idea what it was. She rattled off some of the stars, I looked up that day's TV schedule and was surprised to find it was SOAPDISH. She also LOL when she caught SPACEBALLS but had never seen STAR WARS. Obviously some parodies can be fully enjoyed even if you don't know what they're parody-ing.

Exactly. Well put. That's pretty much how every sex scene comes off in a movie...THUD. Maybe it's because I'm older, but I know what sex looks like- actors don't need to illustrate intimacy. It doesn't further the plot and can be offensive, so best just to leave it out. That's one of the things I love most about older classic film-the clever way they tell you what's going on without showing you. It's fun to revisit an old movie you saw as a kid and find out an entirely new "adult" angle the film always had!

Thank you for saying that so succinctly. I felt the same way but couldn't articulate it as well.

What I really like about this movie is the G rated story line can appeal to kids. Any movie depicting kids having the control to change their world - without violence & bombs is appealing. I'm not so hot on the computer graphics & preferred the Secret Garden depicted in your mind, but eh, go ahead and show it since it's so easy today. (sure beats MST3K worthy CATS)

She's never seen YouTube videos of records playing on a turntable? First time I saw one of those it cracked me up. Picture disks....most are never played. Wow thanks for that explanation! I never knew any of the backstory on exchange "names". Several years ago, I took my Mother was to see a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade & we stayed at the Hotel Pennsylvania. She asked if it was "PEnnsylvania 65000" & sure enough it IS!

I just heard, "If you want customer service, DIAL two". While I still have dial phones in service, I don't think the rotary dial works with new technology. Have you ever seen a kid try to use a dial phone? I've had kids CALL my phone from within the house just to prove to them that's what that black heavy metal thing on the desk really is. And the rotary says GR-97681. The GR stands for "granite" although there's no granite here. I think they just chose some random word. You can always tell a longtime Eastwood resident if their phone number starts with "479"

Just finished THE STAND, wow. Big, too long build up to a few pages of climax in the last 80 pages. At least it kept me busy. Just requested this from my library-thanks for the recommendation!

Every time they mentioned Emma Blucher I couldn't help but neigh

Wow. A real live full orchestra & people singing without headgear microphones! Wonder how they managed that? Or, more to the point-wonder why they CAN'T manage that today? (when Broadway reopens)

Last night I watched BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT '56. It stars fave Dana Andrews and not fave Joan Fontaine. It's well acted, beautifully shot and very well edited, making a great introductory film for anyone not familiar with classic film or noir. It's a story of the controversy of capital punishment. Can someone innocent be convicted on circumstantial evidence? Of course as I watched, realized I had seen it numerous times before. I suppose the reason why it's not in my Fritz Lang "collection" is because it somehow rings hollow. The twists & turns are great, as is the tension it builds, but I just can't stand Joan Fontaine's whiney charactor. I did find the portrayal of "loose women" a hoot, though-talk about stereotype! There's only a few crime noirs that still work once you know the ending, CAPE FEAR, DOA are the best example that comes to mind. I'd chalk BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT up as "great for first viewing, good for second viewing, but once you know the ending, forget it." Could she BE any more skeletal? Look at those big hands! (while annoying, J Fontaine is truly a talented actress...she aced the US accent)